Spotify will launch its streaming service in Japan this month

2 years

After more than a year of hinting, Spotify is finally coming to Japan this month. The Swedish music streaming service will go live in the country before the end of September, a source at the company confirmed to TechCrunch.

The Nikkei earlier this summer reported that the launch was imminent. The publication, one of Japan’s leading business publications, said that Spotify Premium would cost around 1,000 yen (close to $10) per month, and that’s the same price range we have heard.

This launch in Japan, the planet’s second largest music market based on sales, has been a long time coming for Spotify, which recently passed 40 million paying customers. Last October — yes, nearly one year ago — we reported that the company was increasing its focus on Asia with plans to land in Indonesia and Japan. That Indonesia expansion happened in March of this year, and Spotify has been focused on bringing its service online in Japan since then.

Spotify has brokered deals with labels in Japan — and even hired staff from them — and it’ll be banking that the competition, which haven’t exactly set the world on fire there yet, have created early demand for streaming which it can piggyback on. Now, with anything up to a half a dozen notable streaming services available to consumers, Japan’s music industry is beginning its transition to digital.

As for Spotify’s next move in Asia: we reported back in March that it was casting its eye on India, and the country could well be its next target. However, we understand that there’s been no solid commitment on that from Spotify yet. Nevertheless, given the slow speed at which it has expanded in Asia, we don’t expect to see a move into India — or other new markets in Asia, for that matter — for some time.

Spotify first entered Asia in 2013 and it is currently available in five countries in the continent: Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.